16.12.2025
Pavilion in the Oaks
The clients approached Mork-Ulnes Architects with a desire for a flexiblespace that could provide a meditative,spa-like experience for exercise, yoga, and quiet contemplation, as well asa place for social gatherings withtheir extended family and friends.
Set amid mature trees on a steephillside, this dual-purpose wellness and entertainment pavilion is designed to weave through and preserve the existing tree canopy while creating new exterior spaces for gathering integrated into an existing multi-generational home.
The program consists of a fitnessroom, sauna, bathroom, and flexibleentertainment and yoga spaceconnected via a bridge to an existing1970s stucco-clad suburban home.Raised above the sloping hillside, thepavilion is supported by a series ofslender columns that lift the volumeover the landscape to the level of thewalk-out basement of the existinghome. Existing redwood and oak trees puncture the new deck, structuringspace as much as the walls of thepavilion itself.The building is positioned oppositethe existing residence to create athree-sided, open courtyard thatfunctions as the primary summergathering place. The pavilion’s interioris organized around a central, cedarvolume surrounded by operable slidingdoors. The roof structure is composedof exposed cedar framing, which filtersand projects dappled light from nineskylights arrayed above to the spacebelow, bringing the sensation of sittingbeneath the oaks and redwoods intothe pavilion itself.
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